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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: file · band · wound · bound · cold · drill · chest · pit

  1. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. drill — army training
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pit — in a race
  5. band — a ring
  6. chest — a box
  7. bound — certain
  8. file — a line of people
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. chest — of your body
  11. drill — a practice
  12. pit — a hole
  13. chest — of your body
  14. drill — the tool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. file — a document
  18. band — a music group
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bound — obliged

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com